possible virus? Please help

I have recently been unable to delete messages from my outlook expresss. i have tried to highlight the messages and press delete but i dont know any other way to do it? is there a system folder i could delete and replace in my windows folder. I am running under windows 98 and this problem is very fustrating.

What happens when you try to delete emails? This doesn't sound like a virus to me, but maybe you have a corrupted MBX or DBX file. You might try compacting the folder, this will make a new copy of the folder out of the original, hopefully uncorrupted.

Instead of highlighting and hitting the "delete" key, try right-clicking on a message and selecting "delete" from the pop-up menu. Could be something as simple as a balky keyboard. I agree this does not sound like the kind of thing I'd associate with a virus. More likely a corrupt file or a mechanical problem.

This actually better belongs in the computing forum. In any case, I don't think you have a virus.

I would first check the free space you have on your hard drive. If you don't have much space left, it can cause problems deleting things. I know it sounds backwards but its not. If you have plent of space, then do this:

This will destroy all the emails in your inbox so save any information you may need from it. Shutdown Outlook Express. Click on start -> Find, Files or folders. Search for "inbox.dbx". When you find this file, delete it. Restart Outlook Express and it'll create a brand new, blank inbox for you.

Its likely it just got corrupted. It should function correctly now but if it doesnt then you may need to download and reinstall Outlook Express.

If you get that illegal operation again, click the details button and post what the first line says. It'll be a long message but at the top it'll say something like "xxx caused and invalid page fault in module msimn.exe". If you can post this line here, it'll help determine what the problem is.

thankyou leila. I will delete the file tomorrow after i have backed up my mail that i need. i have about a gig on my hard drive. There is a wierd thing going on with that though. The drive displays the wrong infomation on how much space is left. I have to go into dos and run scandisc and then it recognises that it displays it incorectly and corrects the amount of space being shown.